Temporal factors in target selection
with saccadic eye movements

Abstract
Decision times involved in selecting visual targets with saccadic eye movements
in rhesus monkeys were studied for three tasks in which single targets, paired
targets with varied asynchronies, and multiple targets requiring a discrimination
were presented. Probability of target choice in the paired-target task was strongly
influenced by target luminance and size as specified by the temporal offset
required to yield equal probability choice. Among the animals tested, reaction
times for target selection in the paired-target task took 12-47 ms longer, and
in the discrimination task 17-70 ms longer than for generating saccades to single
targets, thereby reflecting the decision times involved. The results provide
information about the time-course of decisions involved in selecting visual
targets with saccadic eye movements.